Abstract
Enzootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) circulate in forested habitats of Mexico, Central, and South America, and spiny rats (Proechimys spp.) are believed to be the principal reservoir hosts in several foci. To better understand the host-pathogen interactions and resistance to disease characteristic of many reservoir hosts, we performed experimental infections of F1 progeny from Proechimys chrysaeolus collected at a Colombian enzootic VEEV focus using sympatric and allopatric virus strains. All animals became viremic with a mean peak titer of 3.3 log10 PFU/mL, and all seroconverted with antibody titers from 1:20 to 1:640, which persisted up to 15 months. No signs of disease were observed, including after intracerebral injections. The lack of detectable disease and limited histopathologic lesions in these animals contrast dramatically with the severe disease and histopathologic findings observed in other laboratory rodents and humans, and support their role as reservoir hosts with a long-term coevolutionary relationship to VEEV.
Highlights
Enzootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) circulate in forested habitats of Mexico, Central, and South America, and spiny rats (Proechimys spp.) are believed to be the principal reservoir hosts in several foci
The role of spiny rats as VEEV reservoirs was reinforced by a study in Colombia and Venezuela in which a correlation was established between the abundance of these rodents and levels of enzootic circulation [10]
We examined interactions between VEEV isolates from an enzootic focus in the Middle Magdalena Valley of Colombia [10] and sympatric P. chrysaeolus
Summary
Enzootic strains of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV) circulate in forested habitats of Mexico, Central, and South America, and spiny rats (Proechimys spp.) are believed to be the principal reservoir hosts in several foci. Enzootic strains (subtypes I, varieties DF, and subtypes II-VI) are regularly isolated in lowland tropical forests in Florida, Mexico, and Central and South America, where they circulate between Culex (Melanoconion) spp. mosquito vectors and small rodents; these strains are generally avirulent for and incapable of Reservoir hosts play an important role in the replication, maintenance, and dissemination of arthropodborne viruses (arboviruses). These hosts generally show little or no disease after infection, presumably reflecting long-term selection for host resistance and possibly for virus attenuation [14,15]. The lack of detectable disease and limited histopathologic effects on these animals contrast dramatically with the severe disease and histopathologic changes observed in other laboratory rodents and humans, and support their role as reservoir hosts with a long-term coevolutionary relationship to VEEV
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